Simple Steps for Setting Up Private/Public Key Authentication Using DSA

Simple & Quick Steps for Setting Up Private/Public Key Authentication Using DSA:



First Scenario: Host Server & Client Machine both running Linux distro

1. It assumes that you have ssh-keygen installed on your machine. If not, go & grab the appropriate RPM from
   http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fssh-keygen

2. Go to  ~/.ssh/ in your console and use the following command

   ssh-keygen -t dsa -b 1024

   You should see something like this:

   Generating public/private dsa key pair.
   Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_dsa):
   Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
   Enter same passphrase again:
   Your identification has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_dsa.
   Your public key has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.
   The key fingerprint is:
   bla…blahh…

3. Login to the Host server & do the same stuff
4. Now Copy the id_dsa.pub from Server to you local machine using SCP or SFTP
5. Cat the id_dsa.pub from server to authorized_keys2 under .ssh like
   

   cat ../id_dsa.pub >> authorized_keys2

6. Change the permissions on file like
   

   chmod 700 authorized_keys2

7. Now you can use ssh-copy-id command directly for copying the local machine id_dsa.pub key to authorized_key2 on host server like
   

   ssh-copy-id accountname@remotehost.com

   If that’s complicated for you then follow the same steps 4-6

8. You are done :); Restart the shell you should able to login on host machine without using the password